Business

MBA in Creative Enterprise

Wisdom at Work

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MBA Faculty

Beatrice Benne received her Master’s from the College of Environmental Design, Berkeley and her Doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley. She is the founder of Soma Integral Consulting — a firm dedicated to facilitating the resolution of adaptive challenges by transforming and designing purposeful and conscious organizations while focusing on the well being of social and environmental ecosystems. Her expertise includes adaptive strategy, transformative change, and leadership capacity development.

Peggy Dean received her Bachelor’s at the University of Texas and earned an Executive MBA at Southern Methodist University. She is the President of Peak Performance Corp and the Executive Director of the Jean Houston Foundation. She has been a consultant to Merrill Lynch, Smith Kline Beecham, the University of Miami, and Charter Medical; headed international cross-cultural project teams with focus on empowering leadership for a healthy shift in large-scale systems in Russia, Turkey, and the Dominican Republic; was the former manager at Recognition Equipment; and is Senior Vice President at M Banks.

Duane Elgin received his M.B.A. from the Wharton Business School, has an Master's in economic history from the University of Pennsylvania and is an honorary Ph.D. for work in "ecological and spiritual transformation" from the California Institute of Integral Studies. Duane is an internationally recognized speaker, author, and social visionary. In 2006, he received the International Peace Award of Japan (the Goi award) in recognition of his contribution to a global “vision, consciousness, and lifestyle” that fosters a “more sustainable and spiritual culture.” His books include: The Living Universe: Where Are We? Who Are We? Where Are We Going?; Promise Ahead: A Vision of Hope and Action for Humanity’s Future, Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life that is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich, and Awakening Earth: Exploring the Evolution of Human Culture and Consciousness. With Joseph Campbell and other scholars he co-authored the book Changing Images of Man.

Gil Friend received his Master's in Ecosystem Management from Antioch University. Gil is a major thought leader, innovator and advisor in Sustainability and Business Strategy. A member of the Sustainability Hall of Fame, Gil has been named as “one of the top 10 most influential sustainability voices in America”. Gil has serves as visiting faculty at Haas School of Business and Presidio Graduate School, and has published widely on the topics of sustainability, economy, and ecology.

Olen Gunnlaugson received his Bachelor's from Simon Fraser University and his Master's and Doctorate from University of British Columbia. He is an Assistant Professor in Leadership & Organizational Development within the Department of Management in the Business School at Université Laval, in Quebec City, Canada. Olen finds teaching and research to be deeply rewarding and views business education as a key societal vehicle for developing and transforming the next generation of self-aware, sustainably-minded leaders and managers. He brings an increasingly multidisciplinary background to his research and consulting interests in leadership, communication in groups and teams, and executive coaching, which have been published across several books as well as numerous peer-reviewed academic journals and presentations at international conferences.

Gary Hampson received his Bachelor's from University College London and his Doctorate from School of Education Southern Cross University. He is a Senior Research Fellow in the School for Transformative Leadership in Olomouc, Czech Republic. He is author of Leadership in transforming the modern worldview: Exploring postformal integration and Leading transformative higher education.

Kim Ngo received her Bachelor’s from Sonoma State University, her MBA from Golden Gate University, and is currently obtaining her Doctorate in Accounting from Argosy University. Chairperson of the Marin Asian Advocacy Project and fluent in Vietnamese (her first language) Kim’s professional background includes senior management positions in financial institutions. Her research interests include economic empowerment, business education, and human rights.

Ron Purser received his Bachelor’s from Sonoma State University and his Ph.D. from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. He is the co-author and co-editor of five books including 24/7: Time and Temporality in the Network Society, The Search Conference: a Powerful Method for Planning Organizational Change and Community Action, Social Creativity, Volumes 1 & 2 and The Self-Managing Organization. His book, The Self Managing Organization, was selected as one of the Top Ten Management Books for 1998.

Nika Quirk (Core Faculty) received her Doctorate in Transformative Studies from California Institute of Integral Studies and her M.B.A. from the University of Phoenix. She is co-founder of Heartstorm Collective, an ensemble of artful facilitators, educators and organizational culture coaches using whole being engagement to guide groups of people into the kind of deeper collaborative intimacy from which synergy emerges. Nika draws on 30 years of corporate management and leadership roles, a rich background in the arts and improvisation, and more than 20 years as an educator and designer of learning programs. Her work centers on integrating play and the arts as modes of inquiry and development in leadership. She also serves on the faculty of UC Berkeley's International Diplomas Program, teaching Emotionally Intelligent Leadership and Business Ethics.

Jonathan Reams received his doctorate in Leadership Studies from Gonzaga University. He teaches and does research on leadership development, coaching and counseling. He serves as Editor-in Chief of Integral Review, A Transdisciplinary and Transcultural Journal for New Thought, Praxis and Research. He is also a co-founder of the Center for Transformative Leadership. His publications include: What’s Integral about Leadership?, Integral Leadership: Generating Space for Emergence through Quality of Presence, Leading the Future, Making Leadership Development Developmental and Integral Leadership: Opening Space by Leading through the Heart. He is also co-editor of Integral Education: New Directions for Higher Learning.